Tom -
I have already been asked this a few times so I have added the following paragraph onto the web site to explain:
"The Mellotron M400 (manufactured in 1973) is played into a Mackie 1202 mixer, which I use because it is very quiet and has a delicate EQ control that can take the edge off some of the white noise coming from the Mellotron without damping out the sound. This leads in and out of an Alesis MidiVerb II effects unit which is used for the reverb and and blooms you hear, and then runs straight into the back of a computer where everything was digitally recorded in Sony ACID Pro, with digital effects coming from the Waves and Timeworks libraries. Once mixed down to my satisfaction the output was written to an uncompressed WAV file which was then bounced off an Akai 4000DS reel to reel for that pleasing thing we call tape compression. I am happy to say that this is the only compression you'll hear anywhere in the music. Likewise you will not hear any digital editng anywhere other than in places where one take was adjoined to another. Some of the very low notes you hear are being played way off the bottom end of the Mellotron by turning the motor speed down by an octave and upping the lower and top ends of the EQ to compensate for the lack of fidelity. Sometimes I simply doubled the line with the bottom end of the St Johns Wood Church Organ which has bass pedals in the recording. There was very little post-production carried out."
Tom Doncourt wrote:
I have already been asked this a few times so I have added the following paragraph onto the web site to explain:
"The Mellotron M400 (manufactured in 1973) is played into a Mackie 1202 mixer, which I use because it is very quiet and has a delicate EQ control that can take the edge off some of the white noise coming from the Mellotron without damping out the sound. This leads in and out of an Alesis MidiVerb II effects unit which is used for the reverb and and blooms you hear, and then runs straight into the back of a computer where everything was digitally recorded in Sony ACID Pro, with digital effects coming from the Waves and Timeworks libraries. Once mixed down to my satisfaction the output was written to an uncompressed WAV file which was then bounced off an Akai 4000DS reel to reel for that pleasing thing we call tape compression. I am happy to say that this is the only compression you'll hear anywhere in the music. Likewise you will not hear any digital editng anywhere other than in places where one take was adjoined to another. Some of the very low notes you hear are being played way off the bottom end of the Mellotron by turning the motor speed down by an octave and upping the lower and top ends of the EQ to compensate for the lack of fidelity. Sometimes I simply doubled the line with the bottom end of the St Johns Wood Church Organ which has bass pedals in the recording. There was very little post-production carried out."
Tom Doncourt wrote:
First I want to thank you, Mike, for sharing that with us. It’s a lot of work and a very generous gift. I am wondering what method did you use to record it? Did you go straight into a channel strip, preamp or did you play through a miked amplifier? I am guessing the former. TD
Well, I e-mailed the link to the music to The Frippster and he replied saying that he'd listen to it provided I sent him an autographed copy of a real CD.
Robert Fripp. Wants my autograph.
Robert. Fripp.
Fripp.
My autograph.
Mike
PS: But hey Robert..no flash photos, okay?
ceccles_ca wrote:
Mars - Well done Mike. All the dynamics are there at the right time.
Even the snare drum is right on the mark. The stereo mix is good.
It needs to be played through good monitors with a big-ass amplifier.
http://www.mikedick son.org.uk/ mellotronworks/
I'm sure that if Fripp heard this, he would think that it was damn good.
It has that sinister, foreboding, feel to it. (Like only a Mellotron
can do).
Clay
-- Mike Dickson, Edinburgh Free Music Project: http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson Or http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/